


Control.

by Lanna Michaels (lannamichaels)



Category: Vorkosigan Saga - Lois McMaster Bujold
Genre: 2012 Kink Bingo, BDSM, Bujold Ficathon 2012, Cock Rings, Kink: Sex Toys (Non-Penetrating), M/M, Possessiveness, Power Dynamics, Time Period: Reign of Ezar Vorbarra
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-08-04
Updated: 2012-08-04
Packaged: 2017-11-11 10:47:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,204
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/477720
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lannamichaels/pseuds/Lanna%20Michaels
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ezar has Piotr under his command.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Control.

**Author's Note:**

  * In response to a prompt by [atheilen](https://archiveofourown.org/users/atheilen/pseuds/atheilen) in the [Bujold_Ficathon_2012](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/Bujold_Ficathon_2012) collection. 



> Written for atheilen's 2012 Bujold Ficathon prompt _BDSM. Everyone thinks Vorkosigan controls him; Ezar knows better_ , and for the Kink Bingo square: Sex Toys (Non-Penetrating).

"A moment, Count Vorkosigan," Ezar orders. 

Piotr pauses by the door as the rest of the General Staff leaves. "Yes, sire?"

Ezar nods to the armsman, who closes the door behind himself and the last of the admirals. "Come here and unfasten your trousers."

Piotr hesitates only a moment before obeying. He glances down at the floor but doesn't kneel. Attentive to orders or just stubborn? Just stubborn, most likely. The sun has never dawned on a day when Piotr Vorkosigan is easy to handle.

"Take your cock out," Ezar orders and Piotr doesn't hesitate at all. He's half-hard already. Ezar knows the time to the exact second when Piotr started to get hard. It was when Ezar had smacked him down and Piotr had bit his lip and obeyed.

Ezar can't take credit for Piotr finding obedience erotic, but he'll happily take advantage of it and train Piotr not just to like it, but to crave it. Forcing obedience on Piotr is all well and good, but it won't last. The trick is to make him need it. Never chase anyone's acceptance. It's much better to stand still and let them come to you and beg. Piotr taught Ezar well. Ezar's going to return the favor. Piotr mastered himself long ago; it's past time he learned to let another man master him. He has iron will and iron control, but he's too used to being in command. Dorca prized it in war, and Yuri never broke Piotr of the habit. It was much too late by the time he even saw the need. Yuri was a sentimental fool. Ezar won't make that mistake.

He's made sure the Staff will wonder why he called Piotr back. Let them. Their imaginations will conjure up enraged arguments and vicious dressing-downs. It will be all over Headquarters by this afternoon, the capital by tonight. Rumor will do that work for him. Vorkosigan was out of line and the Emperor is enraged. Public opinion will suffice for that aspect. Ezar will focus on the rest: Piotr stopped. Ezar gave the order, and Piotr obeyed.

Soon, perhaps even sooner than he might have expected when this began, he won't need to give the order. It will simply be assumed and he'll punish Piotr for breaking it, not reward him for obeying it. But they're not there yet. Today, Piotr took correction without fighting it. That deserves a reward.

Because Ezar has a different idea of how to handle a stubborn strongman than his predecessors. He's confident that his methods, if not necessarily more effective, are much more imaginative than the ones Yuri and the Staff could ever think of. Their limited imaginations don't allow them to see how much Piotr needs someone to master him. He's Vor; he'll always obey. But blind obedience to orders is never enough. 

And Ezar's making sure that Piotr understands that. Thoroughly.

The cock ring is the only visible sign of Ezar's control. It has the Vorbarra crest on it, which Piotr had found blasphemous. Ezar had simply told him to be glad Negri hadn't been able to convince him to implant a tracker in it. The thought of keeping Piotr like that was attractive, but less so when Negri could not guarantee its security. Ezar would have to be content with the legions of guards he had on Piotr, keeping him safe from dangers and from himself.

Ezar had put the cock ring on Piotr the week after they killed Yuri. Piotr isn't allowed to remove it. Negri offered to dig up something that would have made it impossible for Piotr to do so, but Ezar had declined that as well. Trust is necessary. Ezar is trusting Piotr to be good. And Piotr has too much pride to admit to himself that he can't handle having himself under another's control. Under his Emperor's control.

This hadn't been one of the conditions Ezar had given Piotr and Xav when he had accepted their peculiar proposition, but perhaps it was, in its way. He had certainly made sure to get a solemn and thorough oath from Piotr about obedience and respect. But both oaths and loyalty, demonstrably, can break. 

Piotr tells himself pretty lies about duty, but Ezar knows how Piotr feels about chains of command. A man who revolted against one Emperor for overstepping his unlimited power would not hesitate to do it a second time. Piotr can rationalize anything to be for the good of Barrayar, can convince himself that it's his duty as Vorkosigan to sacrifice his honor for his planet, and damn everyone around him to be hanged for it. Ezar saw it happen personally against the Cetagandans and heard about another time later from Xav. Piotr wins, and that saves his life. But even his luck has to run out some time.

Ezar refuses to allow that to happen. Dorca and then Yuri only managed to partially leash Piotr. Ezar is going to succeed where they failed. Because otherwise he'll have to kill him one of these days and then the government would likely collapse without Aral Vorkosigan's father demanding everyone acknowledge the interloper as the rightful Emperor. Piotr's propping everything up, but everyone is expendable, especially a man who has proved himself traitor once already. Ezar would rather save Piotr's life than take it.

"Hands behind your back," Ezar orders softly and Piotr obeys. Ezar wraps his hand around Piotr's cock and strokes slowly. 

Piotr tips his head back and makes a low noise, straining with the effort of not thrusting up into Ezar's hand. Ezar traces around the cock ring with his thumb and Piotr shudders.

"Good behavior is rewarded," Ezar reminds him. "Keep being good, Vorkosigan, and we'll see what more I'll let you dare."

"Thank you, sire," Piotr says, managing sarcasm.

Ezar smiles and removes his hand. "And disrespect isn't," he adds. "You bit your lip and didn't argue, good. And now you regress. You are not permitted to undermine me, my lord Count. If you keep your progress this slow, who knows, I might let you have an orgasm in five to ten years."

Piotr swallows hard.

"Or you could learn your place," Ezar says. "It's really up to you." He traces around the cock ring again and Piotr whimpers. It really is a beautiful work of art; Ezar must remember to honor Vlad publicly some time, if only to watch Piotr squirm and blush. Negri couldn't find out why Vlad had commissioned it, but Ezar has his own ideas about it. Family lore has it that Vlad had a contentious relationship with his chancellor. And this certainly hadn't been the strangest thing Ezar had found in the Emperor's Vault. Perhaps the rest will get some use some day, if Piotr ever earns it. "Remember this when you start to forget yourself." 

It's all about control, of one kind or another. The Counts mutter that Ezar is a puppet, but Ezar knows better. Piotr is under Ezar's control and Piotr will learn it, even if Ezar has to beat it into him.

Because Ezar remembers how he came to power. And, unlike Yuri, he won't make the mistake of leaving his most dangerous General unleashed.


End file.
